Nicaragua’s renewable energy revolution: leading by example

News from Nicaragua |
Tuesday, 14 February 2017 |

Ending the country’s dependence on oil has been a fundamental commitment of the Nicaraguan government for the past ten years. The government’s aim is to ‘transform energy supplies to renewables, prioritise efficiency, and achieve universal access to energy.’

In 2007, only 25% of Nicaragua’s energy came from renewable sources. By 2014 this had reached 52% by harnessing Nicaragua’s abundant sources of renewable energy as part of the government’s commitment to a ‘green revolution’. The government’s target is 90% by 2020.

This ‘revolution’ has been praised by Inter-American Development Bank president, Luis Alberto Moreno, as ‘a model for the world on the shift to green energy.’

As Nicaragua’s Minister for Public Policy, Paul Oquist, points out: “If Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Americas, can make these advances surely the West and the rest of the large emitters can begin increasing their levels of ambition now, in order to save us from a 3°C global average temperature rise.”